India’s squash campaign ends with two team bronzes at Asian Games

Defending champions India came up short against Malaysia in the men's semifinals after the women met the same fate against Hong Kong despite Tanvi Khanna's stirring comeback, ending the country's Asian Games squash campaign with two bronze medals in the team event.

In the women's team semifinals, Anahat Singh’s opening-match loss proved crucial India went down against Hong Kong 1-2.

Later on Thursday, India were the stronger team on paper against Malaysia but were outplayed 1-2 to settle for bronze.

Overall, India ended their squash campaign with two silver medals in singles, couple of bronze in team event and another bronze in mixed doubles.

A lot rode on 18-year-old Anahat in the women's semifnals as India hoped to better their Hangzhou 2022 show. However, the world No. 17 Indian squandered four match points to go down 2-3 (11-9 11-8 6-11 11-13 10-12) against world No. 25 Sin Yuk Chan in a thrilling opening match.

World No. 73 Tanvi then scripted a fine comeback with a 3-1 (4-11 13-11 11-9 13-11) win over world No. 40 Ka Yi Lee to keep India’s hopes alive in the three-match contest.

However, veteran Joshana Chinappa, a former world top-10 player, suffered a straight-game loss to world No. 39 Ho Tze Lok.

"Yeah, definitely very disappointed, we had come so close to, obviously in the mixed doubles as well. But we played our best and with that I'm really happy with just the effort level," Joshna said.

"Of course the team event as well, we had come really close to also beating them, but yeah this is what happens sometimes and it's tough, but at least I'm so proud of my team," said the 40-year-old who set a record of playing in the most editions of Asian Games among Indians.

Up against Sin Yuk Chan, Anahat made a superb start, taking the first two games, and was leading 10-6 in the fourth game before squandering four match points to allow Sin to make a roaring comeback.

She fell 7-9 behind in the fifth game but clawed back to 9-9, only for Sin to grab the first match point. The Indian saved it with a backhand drop, but a composed Sin earned another match point and sealed it with ease.

"I was 2-0 up and had a great chance of winning, but I wasn't really able to convert the game. Of course, it doesn't always go to plan, but Tanvi did incredibly well coming back and backing up that match and winning against an amazing player," Anahat said later.

With the silver she had won in the women's singles here, Anahat has taken her Asian Games medal count to four. She won two bronze medals in the last edition.

In the second match, Tanvi couldn’t make much headway against Ka Yi Lee, losing the opening game quickly. She produced a better show in the second, extending the rallies to earn a game point at 10-9. A backhand drop brought Lee level.

Tanvi squandered another game point before converting the third to keep India alive. In the third game, the Indian fell 3-7 behind but fought back to draw level at 9-9. She earned a game point and sealed the third game when Lee erred again.

Tanvi was 4-1 up in the fourth game. Lee took a 9-7 lead before the Indian clawed back with two points. Lee grabbed a game point, which Tanvi saved before earning a match point herself. After squandering it, she converted her second match point as India stayed afloat.

In the deciding singles, Joshna was pitted against Ho, but the Indian was unable to keep pace physically with her opponent as she lost the first two games and was down six match points in the third.

The Indian made a late fightback to save five match points before losing the game, going down 4-11 7-11 9-11 in just 21 minutes.

In the men's team semifinals, Veer Chotrani kept India alive with a win over 11-4, 11-8, 11-5 win over Sanjay Jeeva. India's top-ranked player Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar could not get past Eain Yow Ng and Ameeshenraj Chandaran, respectively.

Abhay had lost the men's singles final to Yow but could not make amends, losing 8-11, 8-11, 8-11.

Senthilkumar was the higher-ranked player in his contest against Chandaran who was the superior player on the day, collecting a 10-12, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9 victory to send Malaysia into the final against Pakistan.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Bridge Desk. It is published from a syndicated feed)